“All indications are that demand is increasing,” said Austin Wilson, program manager for activist group As You Sow, which is pushing Sanderson to stop using certain antibiotics.
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McDonald’s is expected to announce a packaging and recycling initiative later this week, said Conrad MacKerron, a senior vice president of As You Sow. “We do appreciate what McDonald’s has done,” he said. “It’s taken a long time, but better late than never.”
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As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group that promotes social and corporate environmental responsibility headquartered in Oakland, California, has refiled a resolution with McDonald’s Corp., Oak Brook, Illinois, for 2018 urging the company to assess the environmental impact of its polystyrene use in beverage cups and food trays. The same proposal was voted on by shareholders earlier this year and received the support of nearly one-third of shares voted.
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Thomas Van Dyck, the founder of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, has been a leader in the field of socially responsible investment for more than 30 years. At a recent Bioneers Conference appearance in Marin County, CA, Van Dyck offered thoughts on how to speed up the clean energy transition.
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As You Sow, Boston Common Asset Management and The Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN) released the 2017 special edition of the Disclosing the Facts scorecard.
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It would have been difficult for Exxon to ignore the shareholder vote, said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow. "The inevitability of a decarbonizing economy makes it mission critical that Exxon address the risk to its business-as-usual model," she said. "We hope that Exxon's announcement signals a fundamental change in the company's direction on climate change."
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In 2016, according to non-profit As YouSow.org, which advocates for green-focused investors, only one of the 100 largest 401(k) plans offered a fund choice that could be classified as social, responsible, or impactful – which can achieve green benefits for nature and stronger financial return potential.
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Now there is a tool, the website Fossil Free Funds, that helps pinpoint funds and E.T.F.s focused on companies withsmaller carbon footprints. “There were 10 funds when we started that we identified as fossil-fuel free,” said Andrew S. Behar, chief executive officer of As You Sow, the Oakland, Calif., environmental group that created Fossil Free Funds. “Now it’s up to 31.”
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Rosanna Landis Weaver, an executive compensation expert at the nonprofit As You Sow, said it's unusual to see a CEO's bonus -- which typically follows formulas tied to profit goals or other financial performance measures -- docked for offensive personal behavior. But, she said, "I think boards are feeling more emboldened to address compensation directly and that’s a good thing. We keep talking about pay for performance, but pay can be a stick as well as a carrot."
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“This appears to be an effort by S.C. Johnson to bolster its brand by adding companies that focus on sustainability and specialize in biodegradable and nontoxic ingredients,” says Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of California-based As You Sow, an advocacy group that tracks corporate environmental efforts.
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The new proposal from the non-profits As You Sow and Oxfam America will get a vote from investors at the company’s annual meeting in early 2018 if it is not successfully challenged by the company with regulators.
“We expect to see a majority vote this year,” said Austin Wilson, environmental health manager at As You Sow.
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In the one year since Corporate Knights and As You Sow started the Clean200 rank list, the Clean200 companies generated a return of 16.9 percent versus a decline of 1.2 percent for its fossil fuel benchmark the S&P 1200 Global Energy Index.
In response to John Tierney’s rallying cry to bury and burn waste instead of recycling it, Conrad MacKerron, founder of the EPR advocacy group As You Sow, says, "If recycling doesn’t make economic sense, then Tierney needs to ponder why the CEOs of Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, and even Goldman Sachs last year established a $100 million loan program, the Closed Loop Fund, to boost the effectiveness of recycling by improving curbside infrastructure and recovery markets."
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As You Sow has engaged as shareholders with the electronics, consumer goods and beverage industries over the past two decades to promote corporate responsibility for recycling products and packaging. Carpet makers represent another important industrial sector struggling to make meaningful progress on recycling, and we intend to engage with shareholders of several large publicly traded companies to improve performance in light of problems that have surfaced recently.
"We intend to engage with shareholders of several large publicly traded carpet companies to improve performance in light of problems that have surfaced recently."
"Carpet makers should spend less time hindering vendors to engage on recycling policy and more time figuring how to redesign carpet to make it recyclable."
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"It seems strange to bring something like this back," said Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of As You Sow, a corporate responsibility group that has pushed for a phaseout of polystyrene at McDonald's and other restaurant chains and retailers. "It's kind of curious that they're doing this now."
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As You Sow has brought this issue to the attention of major companies, including Kellogg, a leader in sustainable agriculture who responded by agreeing to survey its supply chain about pre-harvest use of glyphosate.
"Experts, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, agree that pesticides are not necessary or helpful to feed the world," said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow. "Investors would be prudent to analyze their exposure to pesticide-intensive agriculture and prioritize sustainable solutions."
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Also, Danielle Fugure, president of California nonprofit As You Sow, said last month it withdrew a shareholder resolution calling for a climate risk report from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. In return, she said, the Texas company agreed to continue to work with her group and others to develop methods for reporting on climate risks that would be practical for the company but still convey to investors the full extent of the risks it could face.
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Meanwhile, carbon asset risk is still on the agenda for Chevron's shareholders this month: the proposal on transition to a low-carbon economy filed by As You Sow will go forward to a vote. As UCS closely monitors Chevron's and ExxonMobil's communications and engagement with concerned shareholders over its climate-related positions and actions, our experts and supporters will be stepping up the pressure on both companies in the lead-up to their annual meetings at the end of May.
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Rosanna Landis Weaver, corporate pay expert at As You Sow, a pressure group that campaigns for responsible investment, is visibly frustrated by the situation. “Vanguard is growing and growing. Its size in the market gives it a huge responsibility. I think passive investment and low fees definitely have a place, but passive investment should not mean that voting [by asset managers] is passive as well.” As You Sow compiles an annual list of what it considers to be the 100 most overpaid chief executive in the US, based on metrics including total shareholder return versus increases in bonus payments and share awards.
According to As You Sow’s latest report, released in February, Vanguard voted against nine of the 100 most overpaid chief executives last year, which the campaign group described as a “shockingly low number” and “way below almost every other fund manager’s [record]”.
There is an additional business incentive for Vanguard to take a tougher stance. Ms Landis Weaver says she used to invest in one of the company’s funds, but recently sold out due to Vanguard’s voting record.
I strongly suspect other clients — both large institutions and individuals — would also like to see firmer action by the fund house to tackle the widening gap in earnings between company executives and average workers. And what is there to lose? Such action would only improve the company’s public image even further.
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